Chicago

Pam Chandler decided to accompany her husband, Bob, to the extraordinary auction of an Ocean City, N.J., mansion Saturday to keep him from "going overboard. " But an hour after she toured the 7,000-square-foot Victorian-style house on the Great Bay, she was the one prodding him to stay in the frenzied bidding on the breezy bayside veranda. The Chandlers, who live in Rumson, Monmouth County, with their three children, won the auction, ultimately paying $3.9 million for a property that was listed at about $6.5 million two years ago. It is assessed at $5 million.

Independence coach Paul Riley hopes that his team's second of three straight road games goes better than the first. The Independence suffered their first-ever Women's Professional Soccer loss with last week's 2-1 defeat in St. Louis against the Athletica. Now it's on to Chicago for Saturday's 7 p.m. game with the Red Stars. The Independence are 2-1-2 while Chicago is just 1-3-1, although the one win was a 2-0 victory at Boston, a place where the Independence played the Breakers to a 1-1 draw.

Ulf Dahlen didn't wait long to make an impression on his new teammates. Playing in his first game since Chicago acquired him from San Jose over the weekend, Dahlen scored the winning goal at 3:32 of the third period to lead the visiting Blackhawks to a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers last night. "If I missed that shot, it would have been embarrassing," Dahlen said of his game-winner. "Tony made the play - I just put it into an empty net. " Dahlen referred to Tony Amonte, who had scored his 31st goal 38 seconds into the period to tie the game.

I'VE JUST returned from an end-of-summer family trip to Chicago, and I feel like I understand Philadelphia better than ever. Travel is a risk for Philadelphians because it raises touchy questions like, "Why not here?" The downside risk is that the question leads to resignation. The upside risk is that it leads to inspiration. Get enough people inspired and "Why not here?" becomes a slogan rather than a question. Recently though, Chicago has been used as an example to avoid.

"Wonder where they got the name Chicago?" My lunch partner with the inquiring mind likes to know such things, particularly since the restaurant in the Pennsauken Country Club looks like a restaurant in a country club and not a bit like one in the Windy City. Seems that the restaurant started out as Chicago at another South Jersey location and then moved with the name intact. These days, following the recent announcement that Chicago has been singled out by a leading wine magazine for its outstanding wine list, business has been so hot that it could remind you of the Chicago fire.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey acknowledged today that he talked to Chicago's Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel about possibly returning to the Windy City to become top-cop there. Emanual initiated the contact, Ramsey said, but no job offer has been made. "Clearly I'm torn," Ramsey said. "I love Philadelphia . . . but I can't just dismiss (Chicago). It is my hometown, the department where I started my career. But it's not as if I'm unhappy here. " Ramsey, a Chicago native, still has family there.

Last week at about this time, the Eagles were sky high after their amazing victory over Washington. But they got their feet on the ground quickly, knowing that they had to prepare for the Super Bowl champion 49ers. This week, they don't exactly have that far to float after losing to the 49ers, but they still have a scintillating matchup to look forward to. That's the way the Eagles' early-season schedule goes - big games week after week, with no time to stop and analyze the meaning of the last performance.

"Whin ye see two men set in opposite corners while one mutters 'thraiter' an' th' other hisses 'miscreent,' ye can bet they're two Dimmycratic leaders tryin' to reunite th' party. " So spake the barkeep philosopher Mr. Dooley, the long ago creation of that great Chicago humorist, Finley Peter Dunne. In his pithy way, Mr. Dooley was saying the same thing as the German philosopher Hegel, who held that a political party can be said truly to exist only when it is divided against itself.

CHICAGO - President Obama's relationship with his hometown may be best described as a long-distance love affair. He lavishes attention on it from afar and proud Chicago pines for its hometown hero, though the two rarely see each other. That looks like it's about to change. Obama is returning to his roots as he embarks on his re-election race for 2012. He's setting up his campaign headquarters in a downtown high-rise near Grant Park, the site of his victory celebration on election night in November 2008.

Every big city looks for ways to attract tourists and their dollars. They build convention halls, sports palaces, and tout their museums, theaters, restaurants, beaches, racetracks, and anything else they think might sell. Chicago is no exception. We're constantly looking for ways to pull in the rubes. Only this week, the governor said the state will contribute several million to help expand the Shedd Aquarium, so we can show visitors even more fish. I suppose the extra fish might be a draw for people who are already here, but I doubt that many tourists will plan a trip to Chicago just to press their noses to a piece of glass and go eyeball to eyeball with a giant catfish.

Dechert L.L.P. has opened an office in Chicago, hiring three securities litigation lawyers there. The three, David H. Kistenbroker, Joni S. Jacobsen, and Carl E. Volz, had been with the firm of Katten Muchin Rosenman L.L.P. They focus, among other things, on representing public companies in securities class actions. They also have experience counseling public and private companies on internal investigations, corporate governance disputes and on other types of engagements. — Chris Mondics

CHICAGO - Two more men have been charged with planning to make explosives to be used during the NATO summit. Police would not say whether they are connected to three men in their 20s who were arrested in a raid earlier in the week and charged under the state's anti-terrorism statutes with planning to use Molotov cocktails during the summit. Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24, of Chicago, was arrested Thursday afternoon without incident at his home, according to a police report. He was charged Saturday afternoon.

CHICAGO - Prosecutors on Saturday accused three activists who traveled to Chicago for a NATO summit of manufacturing Molotov cocktails in a plot to attack President Obama's campaign headquarters, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's home, and other targets. But defense lawyers shot back that Chicago police had trumped up the charges to frighten peaceful protesters away, telling the judge it was undercover officers known by the activists as "Mo" and "Gloves," not his clients, who brought the firebombs to a South Side apartment where the men were arrested.

CHICAGO - Hundreds of protesters broke away from a large rally and began marching through Chicago streets Friday, taunting police and shouting about everything from bank bailouts to nuclear power - a prelude to even bigger demonstrations expected after the start of a NATO summit. Police said there was one arrest for aggravated battery of a police officer. Officers were also seen trying to arrest a man who scaled a bridge tower and pulled down part of a NATO banner. Earlier, police handcuffed a man at the end of a noisy but largely peaceful rally organized by the nation's largest nurses union.

CHICAGO - As President Obama and 50 heads of state arrive for a weekend NATO summit, parts of Chicago are all but shutting down - the result of dire warnings about heightened security, snarled transportation, and the threat of large protests downtown. For weeks, the extensive preparations have been hard to miss. At one point, Blackhawk helicopters flying drills snaked between skyscrapers. On Friday, F-16 warplanes and other military aircraft will scream through the skies as part of a pre-summit defense exercise.

WASHINGTON - More than two dozen world leaders will join President Obama in an extraordinary weekend of back-to-back summits to tackle Europe's mounting economic woes and solidify plans for winding down the decade-long war in Afghanistan. The Group of Eight economic summit and the national security-focused NATO meeting will be infused with politics from every angle. For Obama, the summits are a unique election-year opportunity to show leadership on the world stage without having to leave the United States.

Sixty-seven Philadelphia police officers are going to Chicago this week to assist in security operations for this weekend's NATO summit. The officers, who will be drawn from around the city, will be in Chicago Friday through Tuesday, said Officer Jillian Russell, a Philadelphia police spokeswoman. The summit is scheduled for Sunday and Monday and is expected to the target of a variety of protests. Police from Milwaukee and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., also will be helping their Chicago counterparts, the Associated Press reports.

1. RUN The 76ers were at their best against Chicago in Game 2, when they got out on the break. The Celtics like to set their defense, but they won't be able to if the Sixers can get them on their heels early and often. 2. SLOW RONDO'S ROLL Point guard Rajon Rondo has established himself as Boston's best all-around player. He's good for a triple-double on almost any night in the postseason. The Sixers have to slow him down - maybe try to trap him more - to make sure he doesn't control the tempo.

DOUG COLLINS is an excellent liar. "I'm not in this for me," Collins said. Not only was that untrue, it sounded un-American. Collins won a playoff series for the first time in 23 years. He won for the only time without Michael Jordan, for the first time since the Jordan-era Bulls ran him out of town for coaching too hard. He took a No. 8 seed and upset a No. 1 seed, the fifth time that has happened in NBA history. He took a team that made an industry of losing close games early in the season and won three times against the Bulls, 79-78 in Game 6 Thursday.

CHICAGO - Going into Tuesday's Game 5 of his team's best-of-seven playoff series with the 76ers, Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau wanted to get the message across to his Bulls that they could overcome a Sixers' lead of three games to one and still win the series. So he reminded the players that, over the course of two seasons, they had won three games in a row 57 times. After Tuesday's victory left the Bulls one third of the way to winning three straight a 58th time, the Bulls said Wednesday that they have shifted some of the pressure to win back to the 76ers.